In a land not their own
The Literary and Rhetorical Role of Allusion in Genesis 15:13
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47182/rb.87.n3-4-2025449Keywords:
Genesis, Egypt, Pentateuch, Abraham, implied readerAbstract
I argue that in Genesis 15:13 the phrase “in a land not their own”, be’ere? l?’ l?he, operates at multiple rhetorical levels for ancient diasporic Jewish readers. Firstly, it foreshadows the enslavement in and exodus from Egypt, thus literarily connecting the Abraham cycle to what is to come in later in Exodus. Secondarily, the vagueness of the term, rather than simply saying “Egypt” facilitates the connection of the patriarchal narrative to the lived experience of diasporic readers. “A land that is not their own” refers to Babylon (or other places) just as much as it does to Egypt.
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